The present invention relates generally to information processing systems and more particularly to a methodology and implementation for processing account charges.
The use of account charge cards is continuing to expand to the extent that a charge card may be used today to accomplish almost any kind of transaction. Recently, automatic teller machine (ATM) bank account cards and so-called xe2x80x9cdebitxe2x80x9d account cards are also increasing in use and popularity. The availability and increasing use of charge cards has made it much easier and faster to purchase anything that a buyer may wish to purchase. The expansion of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the Internet have also contributed to the rapid increase in use of transaction cards and also the sheer number purchasing transactions which may occur during any given period of time for every account customer or card holder.
However, with the increasing number of transactions being made on a daily basis, it has become extremely difficult for the account holder to keep track of all of the purchases made during a billing cycle. Moreover, with more and more transactions being made, there is a corresponding increase in the number of fraudulent transactions. Generally, an account holder does not see a listing of charges from the bank account or other charge card administrator until several weeks after a transaction has occurred. Because of the relatively long time delays between the transaction and the reporting of the transaction to the customer, when a card is lost or stolen, many fraudulent charges may be made before the customer realizes that the card is missing and many fraudulent purchasing transactions occur that could have been avoided. Further, if there are fraudulent or incorrect charges that the customer wishes to dispute, the customer may call the bank to notify the bank of the incorrect charges. This process normally takes an appreciable amount of time and much follow-up to insure that the disputed charges have been recorded and, eventually, that the disputed charges are corrected. Further, the customer does not always have a record of having disputed the charges to the bank or other card administrator in a timely manner.
Thus, there is a need for an improved charge processing system which may be implemented to help alleviate the foregoing shortcomings in account processing techniques.
A method and implementing computer system are provided in which account transaction records are assembled and communicated on a periodic basis. Users are enabled to provide user preferences including the frequency with which the reports are assembled and made known to the user, as well as which particular charges to report in terms of the type and/or amount of the charges. In an exemplary embodiment, account transaction reports from a bank card account are assembled and sent by electronic mail or xe2x80x9cemailxe2x80x9d to the email address of the account owner. An input screen is presented to allow the user to input the user preferences with regard to the substance of the report.